That Was When They First Met
by formerlyknownasone
Summary: It was the first time Draco met her. He didn't know that he would be her enemy. He didn't know who she was. But right then, all he knew was that she was smiling at him, and rest didn't matter. A DMHG oneshot. R


**Hey Fan Fiction Readers! This is a new story of mine. A sweet DMHG oneshot that I hope everyone, especially Dramione fans, would like! **

**I solemnly swear that all these characters are not mine.**

Draco Malfoy was really nervous. This was going to be his first year in Hogwarts.

He always wanted to come to Hogwarts School of Wizardry. He had heard wonderful stories about all the fascinating and exciting events that happened in Hogwarts, and finally he could come and experience it for himself. His father of course, was inclined to send him to Durmstrang, but Draco didn't like the idea of going somewhere dark and cold. So, with the help of his mother's pleading, he was now sitting in the Hogwarts train compartment, opposite Crabbe and Goyle...

And wondered if he was making a mistake.

He narrowed his eyes at the sight of the two of them. How on earth did two such dunce get into such a prestigious school like Hogwarts was beyond him. But then again, miracles happened all the time. Nothing was impossible with magic... If they had any.

But I digress.

Anyway, Draco Malfoy was really nervous, although he tried not to show it. His main concern, was which house he was going to get sorted into. Was he really going to end up in Slytherin? He hoped so. He didn't know what his father would do to him if he didn't. He supposed Gryffindor wouldn't be that bad... If he didn't die facing the anger of his father.

Shame though, on the one rule about Hogwarts that he didn't like. He wasn't allowed to bring a broomstick, or join the Quidditch team. Draco really loved flying, and spent most of his childhood speeding around on his Comet two-sixty. He was really hoping to be a seeker though, so pity about that rule.

Maybe he could ask his father to bend the rules a little. After all, that's what governors of the school are for.

Right now though, he was a little bored out of his mind, flatly refusing to join in Crabbe and Goyle's pitiful attempt at making a conversation. They were currently debating about the correct spelling of the word 'Hogwarts'. Crabbe insist that it was 'H-O-G-G-W-A-R-T'. Goyle argued that it was 'H-O-G-W-A-R-D'.

Draco couldn't help but roll his eyes. He wasn't even going to tell them that they are both wrong. And that they forgot the 's' behind 'Hogwarts'.

Soon, a hard- faced little girl entered the compartment and join them, looking very taken by Malfoy . Her name was Pansy something. Malfoy had thought that Crabbe and Goyle were the most annoying people he met. Half an hour later, he was proven wrong. Pansy was a lot worse. She was annoying, irritating and whiny.

At least Crabbe and Goyle could offer him physical protection, if the occasion calls for it.

He couldn't stand it any longer.

Frustrated by Pansy's rants as well as Crabbe and Goyle's brain-dead conversations, he huffily left the compartment, slamming the door. He left behind two shocked boys and a tearful Pansy, but felt relieved that he was finally free from their clutches.

Actually, relief didn't even describe his feelings. They were also along the line of happy, joy, peace and liberty too. In fact, he was caught up with his elation, that he didn't notice somebody walking right into him, and WHAM!

He just ran into someone, and both of them landed on the floor.

His forehead was now throbbing with pain, and he could feel a lump rapidly forming. Feeling slightly irritated, he turned at glare at the unlucky person who ran into him.

That was when they first met.

It was a girl he rammed into. She has really thick bushy brown hair, and big brown eyes. She was small and petite too. Probably a first year like him, he thought. The girl was now massaging her temple, trying to relieve the ache from it as she attempted to sit up.

"Ouch," that was the first thing she said to him when she successfully sat up. Ouch.

Draco felt his anger soon fading away. She was cute. Immediately he knew he would like her, because she was not attaching herself on him like a _certain someone_ did. She was kind of pretty in a funny way, and he liked that.

Best of all, she probably look or behave nothing like Parkinson.

" Sorry," he managed to say. And he was.

Remembering his manners, he quickly stood up, and offered her a hand. She took it, and Draco helped to pull her up. The brown-eyed girl was busy wiping the front of her robes.

" Thanks!" she said, still attempting to get rid of the dust.

" First year too?" He asked

" Oh yes!" she immediately perked up. " My first year here! I heard Hogwarts is a lot of fun, and they have some really fascinating history! Have you read _Hogwarts: A History_ before?"

Draco would never admit this to anyone else, but he did read that book before. He hadn't finish it yet, but it was the first thing that attracted him to Hogwarts in the first place.

"Yes."

"Did you know that Slytherin, one of the school's founder, tried to build some secret chamber in the school? Or that the ceiling of the school's Great Hall is bewitched to look exactly like the sky outside?" She asked, her eyes shining brightly.

" No, I didn't!" He replied, amazed by this girl. He found himself feeling more interested by the minute. This girl obviously had brains, and for some reason, this fact pleased him. Maybe it was that he finally met someone that was actually smart.

_Unlike _Goyle and Crabbe.

" Well, it was. I'm really looking forward to learning magic, and the lessons! I hope they aren't that hard." She continued, her eyebrows suddenly furrowed.

" Don't worry. I'm sure you would do fine. I heard Potions is quite tough though." He found himself saying, hoping that it would relaxed her.

" Oh thanks! Anyway, I ought to get going. We would be reaching soon, I just asked the conductor," She said, jerking her head towards the door with a plate saying _The Engine's Room_. " Maybe we may end up in the same class. Or even the same house."

And with that, she flashed Draco a really bright smile, before walking away. He found himself hoping that they would end up in the same house too.

He realised he never asked for her name.

It didn't matter though, he thought an hour half later, when the sorting began, he would find out soon enough. Who knows? Maybe they would end up sitting next together at the table.

He was getting impatient. He wanted to know her name.

" Brown, Lavender!"

" Finnigan, Seamus!"

" Granger, Hermione!"

And then a brown-eyed girl stood up. The same one, Draco knew, that he ran into just hours ago.

Hermione Granger.

So her name was Hermione Granger. He liked it. It was unusual, like his. It was uncommonly nice, too. _Hermione Granger_, he repeated to himself. It had a ring to it. Hermione Granger.

Unfortunately she went to Gryffindor. Draco felt his heart stop beating.

"Malfoy, Draco!"

And as he put on the Sorting Hat, his disappointment immediately came. Or rather, he didn't even have to put it on. He just touched it.

"Slytherin!"

He was in Slytherin. And she, in Gryffindor.

Her first words came back to him: Ouch.

Then as he crossed went to join the Slytherin table across the Great Hall, he saw her flashing him another bright smile. He felt himself smiling too. They didn't end up in the same house, but maybe, they could still be friends.

Maybe, just maybe, even more.

He felt himself smiling back.

At that point of time, he didn't know anything. He didn't know how devastated he would few hours later, finding out that she was muggleborn. He didn't know that they would end up as enemies. He didn't know he would end up insulting her throughout his school years. He didn't know that she would slap him two years later, of how much it would hurt later on, both physically and emotionally.

But he did know right then, that Hermione Granger was smiling at him, just like when they first met, and that the rest of the world didn't matter then.

**So What do you think? PLEASE REVIEW!**


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